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| - The photo authentically shows Johnson — but he was 23 years old at the time, not 15.
"Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson at age 15, Aspiring football player, 1987," one X user captioned the image in a post (archived) that reached more than 240,000 views as of this writing.
(X user @FBGreatMoments)
The same claim also spread on Facebook.
What we know about the photo
Johnson joined the Stampeders' practice roster in 1995 after going unselected in the National Football League draft. He was with the team for about three months at the beginning of the 1995 season, roughly between late May or
Johnson himself shared the image on Instagram in March 2021, writing
(Instagram user @therock)
Johnson previously shared another X user's post featuring the same photo in 2018. The official Calgary Stampeders X account also posted it in 2014, writing, "Dwayne Johnson was on Stamps practice roster in 1995. He later gained fame as a wrestler and actor."
Dwayne Johnson was on Stamps practice roster in 1995. He later gained fame as a wrestler and actor @TheRock #TBT pic.twitter.com/v704KgwrLq
— Calgary Stampeders (@calstampeders) September 25, 2014
Johnson replied, "$7 bucks in my pocket when Wally released me. Defining low point, but motivated me to do more. #Grateful #Grind #UncleWally." The
Neither Johnson nor the Stampeders provided specific information about who took the photograph or the exact date it was captured. However, given the evidence for the time period Johnson was on the team's practice roster, it is likely the photo dated to mid-1995.
Daryl Slade, a self-described "Calgary Stampeders' official historian" and author of the book "Stampeders… The Years of the Horse," wrote on X that Johnson "only played exhibition games in 1995, but was on the practice roster for about 3 months. Wally Buono came close about 3 times to dressing him according to newspaper stories." In August 2023, Slade also shared a Calgary Herald newspaper clipping from May 31, 1995, which confirmed Johnson was 23 when he joined the team and included a photograph of Johnson that was nearly identical to the one investigated here, down to the jersey number:
When Dwayne Johnson came to Calgary Stampeders he had an eye on a pro wrestling career, following his grandfather and father, he told Allan Maki in May 31, 1995, Calgary Herald article. Later in the year he became 'The Rock' in WWE and is now the highest-paid Hollywood actor. pic.twitter.com/LKVHvugmDR
— Daryl Slade (@Stampeders1945) August 25, 2023
The newspaper
(Newspapers.com)
In Johnson's 2000 autobiography "The Rock Says" (Page 147), available via the Internet Archive, he said the Stampeders'
Johnson explained in the book (Page 151), "When you're a practice player in the CFL, you are not the busiest person in the world. You practice only four days a week, and you don't dress for games. When the team has a road game, you don't even make the trip," adding that as a practice player he
Origin of the rumor
The claim about Johnson's age in the photograph likely stemmed from a different photo he posted to Instagram in October 2019
(Instagram user @therock)
The photograph from the 2019 post later circulated on social media with a caption reading, "The Rock being The Rock even at 15 years old in 1987." It's likely that social media users conflated the two photos, misapplying the caption from the photo of Johnson's teenage years to the later image from his CFL days.
We've fact-checked other claims regarding Johnson, including assertions that a photograph of him allegedly wearing a "Keep America Trumpless" T-shirt was real and a rumor that he left traditional Hollywood to join tech billionaire Elon Musk's new "non-woke" film studio.
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